What the local media says

Saturday, 16 February, 2013, 12:00am

Comment›Insight & Opinion

Sunday, Apple Daily

Snake doesn't seem to favour city, reporters find

Apple reporters went to Wong Tai Sin Temple to draw fortune sticks to determine Hong Kong's prospects in the Year of the Snake. For its economic fortune, the reporters drew a No 60, which a fortune stick reader said suggested the economy would face difficulties in the first half. But an economics professor at City University said the new leaders on the mainland could roll out stimulus measures that might boost Hong Kong's housing prices and inflation further. As for the property market, No 96 was drawn. The fortune stick reader said this suggested housing prices would keep rising, meaning young people would have to continue to live with their parents.

Monday, Apple Daily

Pharmacies mushroom in Causeway Bay

The number of pharmacies in Causeway Bay has grown by one-third in the past two years despite soaring rents. Several opened recently, replacing restaurants, apparel chains and even a goldsmith shop. The pharmacies mainly sell commodities popular with mainland travellers, such as baby milk formula, medicine and expensive dried seafood. Reporters found 29 pharmacies, compared with 28 banks and 13 convenience stores.

Tuesday, The Sun

Family helps woman give birth in restaurant

A woman gave birth to a girl in a restaurant in Tin Shui Wai while dining with relatives on the first day of the Lunar New Year. The baby was expected at the end of next month. When the woman started having labour pains, her relatives used four chairs to make a bed while her sister acted as midwife. Her grandmother used scissors she got from the reception desk to cut the umbilical cord. Mother and baby are recovering in hospital.

Wednesday, Ming Pao Daily

Scholars decry Beijing's delay on universal suffrage

Chan Kin-man, an associate professor at the Department of Sociology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, who used to support negotiations with Beijing as a way to fight for universal suffrage, has changed his mind. Chan said he and fellow scholars had met visiting mainland scholars in the past decade and listened to their opinions on issues including universal suffrage and how extremists could be stopped from becoming chief executive, but Beijing was still procrastinating. He said some scholars had agreed to shun the visitors in future.

Thursday, Sing Tao Daily

Hygiene conditions at mainland chicken farms appalling

Reporters visited two chicken farms in Huizhou, Guangdong, which supply many frozen and cooked chickens to restaurant chains in Hong Kong and found their hygiene standards appallingly bad. One had chicken excretions piled up under chicken cages, while black liquid was oozing from drains at the back of the farm.

Friday, Apple Daily

Man beaten up trying to extort money from food stall

The boss of a cooked-food stall in Sham Shui Po and her daughter were arrested after a man was attacked for trying to extort money from them. The man had to be admitted to the intensive care unit of Princess Margaret Hospital. The man reportedly asked the boss for money by giving her an empty lai see packet. It was alleged that she called her daughter who asked three men to deal with him.